ELKO, Nev. — The Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) is partnering with Great Basin College to create a commercial driver's license program to help fill the need the state's mining industry has for professional truck drivers.
According to a March 7 GOED news release, 16 tuition-free seats are available for the Elko-based college's recently reinstated Nevada Commercial Driver's License program.
The five-week training classes are limited to four students per session; however, the college expects to have four sessions within the first six months.
GOED provided nearly $370,000 in funding through the agency's Workforce Innovations for a New Nevada (WINN) grants to get the program running, including the purchase of a tractor-trailer training vehicle.
“Nevada, like the rest of the country, is facing a shortage in long-haul truckers causing a bottleneck of raw materials needing to be processed,” Gov. Steve Sisolak said in a statement. “We have state programs in place to help answer the call from our mining industry to create a training program for Nevadans to learn a skill that employers need that will keep our economy growing.”
According to GOED, several companies are supporting the reinstatement of the CDL training program, including Pilot Thomas Logistics, Savage, Barrick and Newmont North America.
The average wage for open positions in rural Nevada for truck drivers is more than $60,000 a year.
The next CDL training session begins April 8, with the next one starting on May 20. For more information or to enroll, call the GBC Continuing Education office at 775-753-2231 or 775-753-2202.
